The Collaborative International Dictionary
Beseeching \Be*seech"ing\, a. Entreating urgently; imploring; as, a beseeching look. -- Be*seech"ing*ly, adv. -- Be*seech"ing*ness, n.
Beseech \Be*seech"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Besought; p. pr. & vb. n. Beseeching.] [OE. bisechen, biseken (akin to G. besuchen to visit); pref. be- + sechen, seken, to seek. See Seek.] 1. To ask or entreat with urgency; to supplicate; to implore.
I beseech you, punish me not with your hard
thoughts.
--Shak.
But Eve . . . besought his peace.
--Milton.
Syn: To beg; to crave.
Usage: To Beseech, Entreat, Solicit, Implore, Supplicate. These words agree in marking that sense of want which leads men to beg some favor. To solicit is to make a request, with some degree of earnestness and repetition, of one whom we address as a superior. To entreat implies greater urgency, usually enforced by adducing reasons or arguments. To beseech is still stronger, and belongs rather to the language of poetry and imagination. To implore denotes increased fervor of entreaty, as addressed either to equals or superiors. To supplicate expresses the extreme of entreaty, and usually implies a state of deep humiliation. Thus, a captive supplicates a conqueror to spare his life. Men solicit by virtue of their interest with another; they entreat in the use of reasoning and strong representations; they beseech with importunate earnestness; they implore from a sense of overwhelming distress; they supplicate with a feeling of the most absolute inferiority and dependence.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"supplication, prayer," c.1300, verbal noun from beseech. Related: Beseechingly; beseechingness.\n
Wiktionary
n. A heartfelt ple
v
(present participle of beseech English)
WordNet
adj. begging [ant: imperative]
Usage examples of "beseeching".
Worse still, she found it impossible to tear her eyes away from his eyes, which clung to hers with the intensity of a command, willing her to obey, to take note, to listen, then, seeing compliance, gradually softening as if beseeching her pardqn, understanding, and forgiveness and expressing sadness for all that had happened and was about to happen.
Once engaged, she was riveted by the compelling, beseeching, anguished intensity of his demand for an answer to his question.
Her eyes - bright, expectant - grew even wider, beseeching some distant memory which now appeared to be at hand, within reach.
Dalmatica is beseeching me to live with her in your house, but I feel I cannot do that until I obtain your permission.
Octavius had written to Pompey Strabo beseeching him to come to the aid of his countryand that, wonder of wonders, none other than Gaius Marius had landed on the Etrurian coast at the township of Telamon, adjacent to his own vast estates.
O my God, him that hath, with beseeching fingers, clung to the hem of Thy mercy and Thy grace, O Thou Who of those who show mercy art the Most Merciful!
I praise Thee and I thank Thee for that whereby Thou hast favored Thine humble maidservant, Thy slave beseeching and supplicating Thee, because Thou hast verily guided her unto Thine obvious Kingdom and caused her to hear Thine exalted Call in the contingent world and to behold Thy Signs which prove the appearance of Thy victorious reign over all things.
She had ceased sobbing, but her trembling would not be stilled, and she shuddered afresh when he came closer to her, beseeching his forgiveness with a pathetic smile, yet shrinking the more.
Yet she loved him as she had always done--of that he was convinced, and at times he surprised a look upon her face--a tender, beseeching look, as though she were mutely asking his forgiveness--which went to his heart.
Somehow, Faeril managed to shake off enough of her dragonawe to cast a prayer-spell beseeching Mystra to imbue them with courage.
Norfolk Biffins, squat and swarthy, setting off the yellow of the oranges and lemons, and, in the great compactness of their juicy persons, urgently entreating and beseeching to be carried home in paper bags and eaten after dinner.
Thus she came to the Mill, and her palfrey was spent, and there she took refuge, beseeching Martimor that he would hide her, and defend her from those caitiff knights that must soon follow.
I once saw this same beseeching looseness of eye and mouth in the face of a ragged little faggot on Sunset Boulevard, scorched and peed-on and limping back for more.
Dorel looked from him to Katana, their eyes beseeching her almost identically.
And just at that unfortunate moment Marah turned her pale face and beseeching eyes around and met the full gaze of her husband!